This summer, Laidlaw Scholars around the world completed transformative journeys of research, leadership, and self-discovery - and through the Summer Stories 2024 competition, they captured these experiences in creative and inspiring ways.

We received 27 fantastic submissions that showcased the challenges, growth, and moments of joy that defined this summer for our Scholars. Following community voting and a jury review, we are excited to announce the winners of this year’s competition.

Congratulations to all the winners and a huge thank you to everyone who participated! Let’s celebrate the creativity and talent of the Laidlaw Scholars community together. 

Grand Prize Winner

🏆 Two Continents, One Book: An Artistic Recount of Oxford and Tanzania — Trisha Bhujle

Trisha’s submission stood out for its powerful storytelling and a creative approach to documenting her Laidlaw journey. It was selected as the Grand Prize winner through a combination of community votes and a jury review. Congratulations, Trisha!

Honourable Mentions (Jury Selections)

While there could only be one Grand Prize winner, the jury would like to recognise three submissions that demonstrated exceptional creativity, insight, and originality:

🎖️ Short film about my four-weeks in Nepal working with SOS Children's Villages — Catherine Martins

🎖️ Copper Nanoflakes — Diotime Pellet

🎖️ Leeds in the eyes of receipts — Wong Seng Ying Amber

Category Prize Winners (Community Voting)

Most Humorous

A Heartfelt Comedic Timeline of my Internal Thoughts — Youness Robert-Tahiri

Most Creative

Greetings From Gay Paradise! — Jane Emmins

Most Insightful

An Ode to Growth — Nadia Kwiecinska

Virtual Gallery Celebration

In the next few months we will be creating a virtual gallery to showcase all the submissions from this year’s Summer Stories competition. This space will celebrate the creativity, talent, and unique journeys of our Scholars, ensuring every entry gets the recognition it deserves. Stay tuned for updates!

Looking Ahead to 2025

As this was our first time running the Summer Stories competition, we have learned a lot along the way and are already thinking about how to make next year’s competition even better. If you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out at nikol.chen@laidlawfoundation.com.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s competition and to all who cast their votes. Your creativity, engagement, and support have made this initiative a true celebration of the Laidlaw Scholars community. We are so excited to see more stories next year!